advice for sunday services

Hoping you all can offer some advice:


DH and I have been asked to be on a panel to discuss the fraework for a third service at our church. We currently have a traditional service at 10am along with Sunday school for the kids, and a contemporary service at 8:30 am. We are really trying to make this service young family oriented and are really willing to step outside the box and do something radical. What do you love/dislike about your current service you attend and what are the 5 most important features of a worship service/experience - in your opinion. We just got a new pastor and I feel like this may be our chance to really step out and show the community that the Lord is in our town. I would appreciate any input you can give. I was temped to sort of "shop around" and go to other churches to see what they are doing and how the people respond, just for ideas, but we REALLY love our new pastor and dont want to spend several weeks missing his messages.

I've been thinking about your post. Hmmm... not sure I have a great answer, but didn't want to not respond.

For me the top most important thing is correct doctrine. It can be a fantastic experience otherwise, but if the doctrine is off, I'm out. And correct doctrine means the BIBLE needs to be taught. Not just mentioned. And I usually do not like a sermon based around a single verse, with everything else being the pastor's thoughts and opinions. I want meat from the Word. I want Christ as the central message of every single sermon.

I really love that my church does mostly chapter by chapter, verse by verse study through the Bible. I do think topical sermons have a place, and should be preached, I just think a lot of the Bible is missed if every single week is a topical sermon.

Soo... other than that, other stuff is just details. lol

I'm not really sure what you mean by something outside the box or radical. I'm a little bit hesitant about those words, because I often find them to mean that doctrine gets "tweaked" to be more palatable for the masses. Maybe you could expand on what that means to you?

For me the top most important thing is correct doctrine. It can be a fantastic experience otherwise, but if the doctrine is off, I'm out. And correct doctrine means the BIBLE needs to be taught. Not just mentioned. And I usually do not like a sermon based around a single verse, with everything else being the pastor's thoughts and opinions. I want meat from the Word. I want Christ as the central message of every single sermon.

Exactly. By radical, we mean we want to be His hands and feet, and the only way to do that is to be immersed in His word. After several wonderful, yet slightly superficial pastors, we finally have one who is willing to work for Christ in the wat He would want. So, we are all following suit and we really want to find a way to bring more people to Him. I think we have the message covered, the pastor is very bible, Christ focused. We just were hoping to do something different.